Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Dec 28: Sahil (26), resident of Krishnapura sixth block near Suratkal, was arrested by the policemen of Padubidri station on Tuesday December 27. He has been accused of altering the amount of a cheque that was issued to him by a person and obtaining cash payment thereof.

It is said that Sahil had promised Shankar Shetty Adve, a car owner, to get him personal loan of one lac rupees sanctioned through a bank without any guarantee. He had sought payment of Rs 110 towards paper work charges, and Shetty had obliged by issuing a cheque on Corporation Bank. This cheque reportedly was altered by Sahil by using an eraser pen, and he had succeeded in withdrawing Rs 19,000 from Shetty’s account by using this cheque.

The policemen were in for a shock when they traced the movement of mobile number provided by Sahil to Shetty. The sim card for this phone was obtained in the name of Shankar Shetty by providing to Airtel the driving licence and photos Sahil had collected from Shetty on December 13 for facilitating loan transaction.  Sahil himself had filled up the amount as Rs 110 in the cheque with the help of an eraser pen, and had altered the amount later with the same pen. While encashing the cheque, he had signed his name as Sandeep Shetty on the back of the cheque, after reaching the bank in an auto rickshaw.

By the time the policemen arrested Sahil, he had already destroyed the said sim card, and another cheque he had collected from a car driver from Padubidri. Sahil told the policemen that he is a mobile technician in Worli Mumbai, and that he wanted funds to open a mobile shop in Gujarat.  The policemen recovered the eraser pen in question and Rs 19,000 Sahil had withdrawn from the bank, from his home.

Padubidri station house officer, Mahadeva Setti, said that Sahil had introduced himself to be Suraj Shetty, an officer of Confident Group with its office in Kunil Complex, Mangalore, at the time of securing sim card from the cell phone operator. Setti said he plans to convene a meeting of the dealers and sub-dealers soon, to advise them against issuing sim cards without insisting on the personal presence of the person concerned.